Transportation of humanitarian aid

by | May 26, 2022

Transportation of Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the humanitarian response was immediate and enormous — but chaotic. Warehouses across Poland filled rapidly with donated food, water, medicine, and supplies. The will to help was not the problem. Getting aid safely to the people who needed it was.

Food was rotting in storage. Shipments went missing in transit. Organisations were collecting donations without the means to move them. SWB identified this gap early and moved to close it.

We built a working network — connecting embassies, NGOs, private companies, donors, logistics hubs, and verified reception points inside Ukraine — to ensure that what was collected actually arrived. Using trucks, vans, and passenger cars, we began organising controlled, documented convoys from Polish warehouses to hospitals, field hospitals, temporary shelters, destroyed towns, local NGOs, front-line support points, and municipalities across Ukraine.

The operations documented here represent a selection of the transports carried out between April and May 2022, during the most acute phase of the crisis. SWB continued operating convoys in the years that followed.

We organised these operations in cooperation with:

The operations below represent a selection from 2022. Our Ukraine convoys have continued since.

Supplies for Kyiv | Delivered: 24 May 2022

Transport of food and medicines donated by Eutsi Pireneo (Basque Country) and water donated by UAB Lamikara (Lithuania), carried through Poland to Kyiv by passenger cars in close cooperation with the Belarusian DAR Initiative.

Water for Ukraine | Delivered: 21 May 2022

Transport of natural mineral water UPAS, donated by UAB Lamikara (Lithuania), was distributed to multiple Ukrainian towns. The transport was carried out by small vans to maximise security of delivery.

Supplies for Irpin, Bucha, Kyiv, Borshchiv, Ternopil and surrounding areas | Delivered: April 2022

We coordinated the transport of medicines, first aid kits, food, water, and hygiene products donated by individuals and organisations, including Laura Scaglione (Italy) and Ola Thin (China). Delivery to the highest-need destinations was carried out by the Ukrainian army.

Supplies for the Ukrainian army — front line | Delivered: April 2022

We organised transport of water, food, medicines, and a generator from MILA to the Kyiv Oblast. From there, the supplies were transferred to the front by the Ukrainian army.

Supplies for Borshchiv — Ukrainian army | Delivered: 21 April 2022

Two transports to Borshchiv, from where supplies were collected by the Ukrainian army and forwarded to the front lines. We delivered water collected by the DAR Initiative, as well as food, blankets, and clothing collected by Laura Scaglione from Licata, Sicily.

Supplies for Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast | April 2022

Several trucks carrying basic food supplies, accompanied by smaller cars, were delivered to Nizhyn in the Chernihiv Oblast — a region that had been under Russian occupation and was among the first areas to require immediate humanitarian support following liberation.